Okay, so what do participants do in Destination ImagiNation (DI)?
The first thing that DI participants do is find a Team Manager and Start a Team. In this stage of the process, teams typically do a lot of ice-breaking activities to feel more comfortable around each other. They also focus on learning about each other’s skills, talents, and personalities. Team building is an important part of the process: collaborative and efficient teams do well in our program.
Next, each team selects and solves a Team Challenge. Team Challenges have varying focuses, they have specific requirements that must be met, and they can take weeks or months to solve. For example, the technical Team Challenge in 2008-09 was called “Operation Cooperation,” and it asked teams to create two devices—one human-powered and one remote-controlled—to perform tasks together. Tasks included tying a knot in a piece of string, stacking materials, and releasing and catching an object. “Operation Cooperation” teams designed, built, and tested their devices; chose their tasks; worked on their accompanying, required presentations; added personal touches (known as “Side Trips”); and practiced. The Team Challenges are new every year: descriptions of this year’s Team Challenges can be found here.
Over the course of the entire process, teams also practice Instant Challenges. Instant Challenges make up a fourth of each team's Tournament score, so it’s important for every team to be comfortable with them. Instant Challenges can be Task-based (e.g., build a tower as high as possible using prescribed materials), Performance-based (e.g., create a skit that features 5 different animals), or a mixture of the two. Teams do not know what they will have to do in their Instant Challenge until they get to the Tournament.
At the culmination of the process, teams go to a Tournament and present their Team Challenge solutions to Appraisers and live audiences. At Tournaments, teams are scored for how well they meet the requirements of their Team Challenges and for their creativity and teamwork. Teams also receive score for their Instant Challenge. The highest-placing teams at regional Tournaments can advance to state/country-level Tournaments, and the highest-placing teams from those Tournaments are invited to Global Finals. DI Tournaments are celebrations of creativity, teamwork and problem solving, and they’re great opportunities for teams to showcase all of the hard work they’ve done.
